The present invention relates to a toilet for the removal of human and other waste. The present invention further relates to a toilet which is resistant to clogging, increases flushing capacity, and delivers the flush water volume with greater energy.
Toilets for removing waste products are well known. Typically, toilets incorporate three systems that work together to perform the flushing action. Those systems are (1) the bowl siphon, (2) the flush mechanism, and (3) the refill mechanism. Working in concert, these three systems allow for the flushing function of the toilet.
Siphoning is used to transport fluid and waste from the higher elevation of the bowl to a lower elevation of the wastewater line. The flow channels in a toilet assembly are designed to begin siphoning when the water in the bowl rises above a certain level. The siphon tube itself is an upside down U-shaped tube that draws water from the toilet bowl to the wastewater line. Water is drawn out of the bowl and into the siphon tube when the toilet is flushed. The flushing action is initiated by water entering the bowl through the action of the flush mechanism and the refill mechanism. When flushed, the bowl is quickly filled with water from the tank positioned above, which causes the siphon tube to fill with water, creating a pressure gradient in the tube. The water-filled bowl creates higher pressure at the beginning of the siphon tube, and causes the water and waste to be pushed through the tube and into the wastewater line.
Typically, the tank, positioned over the back of the bowl, contains water that is used to initiate the siphoning from the bowl to the sewage line, as well as refilling the bowl with fresh water. When a user desires to flush the toilet, he pushes down on a flush lever on the outside of the tank, which is connected on the inside of the tank to a movable chain or lever. When the flush lever is depressed, it moves a chain or lever on the inside of the tank which acts to lift and open the flush valve, causing water to flow from the tank and into the bowl, thus initiating the toilet flush.
In many toilet designs, water flows both directly into the bowl and is dispersed into the rim of the toilet bowl. The rim typically has several small holes to allow flow into the bowl. The water releases into the bowl rather quickly, with flow from the tank into the bowl typically lasting approximately two to four seconds. The water flows from the rim, down a channel within the sides of the bowl, into the large hole at the bottom of the toilet, commonly known as the siphon jet. The siphon jet releases most of the water into the siphon tube, initiating the siphon action. The siphoning action draws all the water and waste out of the bowl and into the siphon tube. The waste and water continues through the other end of the U-shaped siphon tube through an area known as the trapway, and is then released into the wastewater line connected at the base of the toilet.
Once the tank is emptied of its contents (fresh water) during the flush, the flush valve closes, and a floating mechanism, which has now dropped in the tank to some residual amount, initiates the opening of the filler valve. The filler valve provides fresh water to both the tank and the bowl through separate flows. Eventually the tank fills with water to a high enough level to cause the float to rise, thus shutting off the filler valve. At this point, the flushing cycle is complete.
However, government agencies have continually demanded that municipal water users reduce the amount of water they use. Much of the focus in recent years has been to reduce the water demand required by toilet flushing operations. In order to illustrate this point, the amount of water used in a toilet for each flush has gradually been reduced by governmental agencies from 7 gallons/flush (prior to the 1950""s), to 5.5 gallons/flush (by the end of the 1960""s), to 3.5 gallons/flush (in the 1980""s). The National Energy Policy Act of 1995 now mandates that toilets sold in the United States can use water in an amount of only 1.6 gallons/flush (6 liters/flush).
In the past, toilet designs have attempted by various methods to comply with this reduced water requirement, but achieving superior flush performance has been difficult. Therefore, it has been found desirable to provide a toilet which assists the flush operation in meeting the mandated water requirements while at the same time providing for an enhanced and superior flushing operation.
In the crowded art of producing a more reliable, more efficient and more powerful 1.6 gallon (6 liter) gravity toilet, one method to more effectively remove waste from the toilet bowl is to increase the hydraulic energy available during the flushing operation. However, the hydraulic energy available is not enhanced by the typical rim wash employed in existing toilets as the water path flows in two opposite directions through the rim of the toilet thus reducing the available energy. It has therefore been found desirable to provide a toilet which increases the hydraulic energy of the rim flush.
Current agency requirements further mandate that the flush lever for the flush valve assembly have a minimum xe2x80x9chold downxe2x80x9d time of 1 second without exceeding the aforementioned total water usage or discharge per flush of 1.6 gallons or 6 liters of water. It has been found that the hydraulic performance characteristics of the toilet can be significantly enhanced if water can be evacuated from the water tank in a dumping time of less than 1 second, preferably 0.5-0.6 seconds. Therefore, it has been further found desirable to provide a toilet which releases the effect of the flush lever so that the valve opening can close before the expiration of the mandated minimum xe2x80x9chold downxe2x80x9d time of the flush lever (1 second) without exceeding the total water per flush mandate of 1.6 gallons (6 liters).
In the development of the invention of this application, several toilets were examined and tested. Measurements were made to examine flushing capabilities. In order to determine the clogging and unclogging properties of these toilets, various objects were flushed through the toilets, including ping pong balls, thick napkins, floating Polypropylene balls, foam sponges, and floating rubber tubes. These objects were used to simulate various waste sizes and shapes.
All of the tested designs shared some of the same problems, but in varying degrees. First, several of the models had clogging problems. In most of these toilets, this problem could be attributed to an undersized trapway. Second, when there was a significant level of waste in the bowl, several of the designs were not capable of cleaning the bowl in a single flush. Third, several of the toilets used a symmetrical sweeping flow path to deliver flow volume to the rim, which perhaps decreased the efficiency of the toilet. Fourth, the flush-valve in several of the toilets was not capable of providing both a fast and high volume of water delivery from the tank. Finally, many of the toilets produced a considerable amount of noise during flushing. These tests confirmed the desirability of providing a toilet assembly which achieves a maximum trapway but does not alleviate the siphon effect.
It is therefore desirable to provide a toilet which allows for quieter flushing and decreased likelihood of clogging, increases flushing capacity, and creates a vortex flushing action by having an asymmetrical jet stream rim flow. This toilet includes a flush valve which minimizes losses of hydraulic force and allows for smooth transition of the water flow from the flush valve to the jet and rim channel supplies.
Therefore, it is an advantage of the present invention to provide a toilet which avoids the aforementioned disadvantages of the prior art.
An additional advantage of the present invention is to provide a toilet that is resistant to clogging.
Another advantage of the present invention is to provide a toilet with a flushing mechanism which is capable of cleaning the bowl in a single flush.
A further advantage of the present invention is to create a toilet which is self-cleaning.
A still further advantage of the present invention is to provide a toilet with a relatively silent flushing mechanism.
A yet still further advantage of the present invention is to provide a toilet with a large trapway diameter.
Yet another advantage of the present invention is to provide a toilet with a high discharge rate into the wastewater line.
Still yet another advantage of the present invention is to provide a toilet which has a sweeping flow path to deliver the flush volume to the rim and jet sections with greater energy.
Yet an additional advantage of the present invention is to provide a toilet with a hydraulically tuned direct jet path for greater performance.
It is yet a further advantage of the present invention to provide a toilet which reduces hydraulic losses.
Still another advantage of the present invention is to provide a toilet having an asymmetrical rim path flow resulting in vigorous vortex action.
In accordance with the present invention, a new and improved toilet is provided which includes a toilet bowl assembly having a toilet bowl and a trapway extending from the bottom of the toilet bowl to a sewage line. The toilet bowl has a rim part along an upper perimeter portion that accommodates an asymmetric flow path for flush water. A water tank positioned over the toilet bowl assembly contains water that is used to initiate siphoning from the toilet bowl to the sewage line and refills the toilet bowl with fresh flush water after each flush operation.
This toilet incorporates water supply to the bowl from both a direct jet flow as well as an asymmetrical rim flow. The water flows from the tank through the rim in one direction and is dispersed through one slot halfway around the rim (at the front of the bowl) and another slot at the end of the rim""s path (at the back of the bowl). The water also flows through several other smaller holes distributed evenly along the perimeter of the rim. The water discharged from the two large rim slots is in two powerful streams, thus creating a strong vortex that initiates the flushing action. This water discharge configuration creates a high energy jet. The dispersion from the smaller holes around the perimeter of the bowl serves to wet and clean the bowl.
This toilet includes a trapway with no reductions in cross sectional area. This feature prevents clogging, because any load passing through the trap continues through to the wastewater line. This trapway is also larger than existing trapways, which enhances the toilet""s anti-clogging capacity. This increased trapway size also increases the waste discharge rate at the end of the system into the wastewater line.
Various other advantages, and features of the present invention will become readily apparent from the ensuing detailed description and the novel features will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.